Pac 12 Preview: Washington

Last Year:
23-10, 11-7 in Pac 12 play. Lost 86-80 to Miami in the first round of the NCAA.



Coaches:
Mike Neighbors is in his 3rd season as Head Coach after 2 seasons as an Assistant at Washington.

Adia Barnes is in her 4th season as an assistant. Barnes is the all time leading scorer at Arizona.

Morgan Valley is in her first year as an assistant, coming from Virginia Tech. She played at UConn.

Fred Castro is in his 3rd season at Washington as an assistant coaching the Guards.

Jackie Nared is in her 2nd season as the Director Player Development. That’s a non coaching position. Jackie scored 22 points per game 2 years ago at St Mary’s.



Losses:
Washington lost two top starters in Jazmine Davis and Aminah Williams. Davis was the 2nd leading scorer at 16 points per game and led the team in assists at over4 per game.
Williams led the team in rebounding at 9 per game and scored 9 points per game.



Additions:
Deja Strother is a 6-5 Frosh Center who was ranked # 35 out of HS.

Hannah Johnson is a 6-1 redshirt Frosh Froward who had to sit out last season with an injury. She was ranked # 83 out of HS and the Southern Section of California Player of the Year two years ago. Johnson is a strong rebounder.

Heather Corral is a 6-1 redshirt Jr Wing who sat out last season with an injury. Corral is the sister of former USC great Ashley and was the Washington HS Player of the Year. Heather played just 7 games as a Soph so has missed almost two full seasons.



Schedule:
Not strong, Texas Tech, Syracuse and Oklahoma are the toughest non-conference games. The Huskies non-conference schedule is ranked # 8 in the Pac 12. The Huskies don’t play Stanford or Cal at home or travel to the Oregon schools. So they get a big break there.




The Team:
There are three potential post players, one of whom is the Frosh Strother.

Another is 6-3 redshirt Jr Katie Collier. Collier had cancer as a HS Sr then hurt her knee as a Washington Frosh missing the year. She was ranked 22 out of HS and a McDonalds All American. Last season she averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds so maybe she will never be the same but I’m rooting for her.
6-2 Jr Chantel Osahor averaged 5 points and 6 rebounds can shoot the three and is a great passer, although lacks quickness.

The Great Kelsey Plum now a Jr returns at Guard. Plum is 5-8 and averaged 22.6 points last season and hit 69 threes at 40%.

Brianna Ruiz returns at Guard as Washington played three Guards last season. Ruiz is a 5-10 redshirt Soph who averaged 5 points.

Talia Walton is a 6-2 5th year Sr who averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds last season. Walton made 59 threes at 39%.
Johnson and Corral previewed above will certainly contribute.

Kelli Kingma is a 5-8 Soph Guard. She will be much improved over last season when she averaged just 9 minutes a game. She is the sister of Kristi a former great Husky.

Khalia Lark is a 6-0 So Wing. Lark averaged 2.4 points in 9 minutes of play.

Mathlide Gilling is a 6-3 Sr Post, who hasn’t played much at Washington.




Predictions:
As far as Plum can take them, but probably middle of the pack.



2016 Recruiting:
Aarion McDonald, 5-6 PG from CA, # 51.

Mai Loni Hensen , 5-11 Wing from CA

Amber Melgoza, 5-10 Guard from CA # 147